Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 24, 2026.
Whitman County, Washington, has about 48,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Whitman County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and one campus agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Whitman County Superior Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Whitman County public records, Washington arrest records, Washington inmate search and Washington criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Whitman County
The Whitman County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Whitman County. It reported 507 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Whitman County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Pullman, 33,543 residents: 434 arrests reported for 2025.
- Colfax, 2,692 residents: 6 arrests reported for 2023.
- Palouse, 1,029 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2024.
- Garfield, 543 residents.
- Oakesdale, 384 residents: 1,166 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Whitman County: Washington State University at Pullman (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Whitman County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Oakesdale: 1,166 for 2025, 1,188 for 2024, 1,188 for 2023, 1,187 for 2022, 1,188 for 2021 and 1,188 for 2020.
- Whitman County Sheriff's Office: 507 for 2025, 555 for 2024, 408 for 2023, 392 for 2022, 402 for 2021 and 524 for 2020.
- Pullman: 434 for 2025, 615 for 2024, 705 for 2023, 483 for 2021, 517 for 2020 and 667 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Colfax: 6 for 2023.
- Palouse: 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 1 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,107 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,107 in 2025 against 2,358 in 2024, down 11 percent.
Through March 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 490 arrests, against 576 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Whitman County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Whitman County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 27 people, down from about 41 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 53 beds, and it ran at 77 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Whitman County Sheriff's Office at whitmancounty.gov/290/County-Jail (page title: County Jail | Whitman County, WA), phone 509-397-5585, 411 N Mill Street Colfax, WA 99111, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Washington State Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.wa.gov/records/incarcerated-data-search/incarcerated-search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Whitman County
An arrest in Whitman County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Whitman County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at whitmancounty.gov/729/Access-Court-Records, phone 509-397-4622); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at whitmancounty.gov/307/Prosecutor, phone 509-397-6250).
Statewide, Washington Courts Search Case Records is the Administrative Office of the Courts' free statewide case search.
Washington is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12 a search, through the Washington State Patrol. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Whitman County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) the agency must answer within 5 business days, and it may charge for copies at 15 cents a page, and set fees for electronic records.
- An arrest by the Whitman County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 509-397-5585.
- An arrest in Pullman, Colfax, Palouse, Garfield or Oakesdale: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Washington State University at Pullman: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 509-397-6250, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Whitman County Superior Court, through the court records page at whitmancounty.gov/729/Access-Court-Records, phone 509-397-4622.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at whitmancounty.gov/527/Public-Records-Requests (page title: Public Records Requests | Whitman County, WA).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Whitman County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the 16 cities in Whitman County: Pullman, Colfax, Palouse, Garfield and Oakesdale. Tekoa, St. John, Rosalia, Albion, Colton, Uniontown, Endicott, LaCrosse, Malden, Farmington and Lamont have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Whitman County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Whitman County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Pullman (33,543)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Whitman County each year?
Oakesdale reported 1,166 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,107 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Whitman County?
Ask the Whitman County Sheriff's Office at 509-397-5585; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at whitmancounty.gov/290/County-Jail.
Where are people arrested in Whitman County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Whitman County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Whitman County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Washington State Patrol: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Whitman County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Whitman County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) the answer is due within 5 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at whitmancounty.gov/527/Public-Records-Requests.
Is this the official Whitman County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.